Broken Anomaly

Their advance went unhindered. They didn’t encounter any more patrols or even stragglers. The way forward was basically a plain, so they could clearly see if anyone or anything was approaching. Sadly, that applied both ways.

“Do you think they’ve seen us?” Alex asked.

“No way the haven’t, right?” Eric answered, squinting, trying to see a bit further.

“They’ve definitely seen us,” Stella answered, putting a water bottle back in Marcus’s bag. “My question is, why haven’t they moved?” Just like Eric, she squinted her eyes, trying to see more.

“What are you doing?” Eric asked mockingly when he saw what Stella was doing. “Did your contacts get upgraded?”

Stella glanced at him, then flipped him off without a word.

“That’s it? I thought you would say something about me only having one eye.” Eric said, chuckling.

Stella, without missing a beat, shot back, “I won’t be part of your kinks.”

Eric shook his head. “Wow, Marcus, are you hearing this?”

“Stop trying to get my girlfriend involved in your kinks,” Marcus said with a slight chuckle.

“See. Leave me alone,” Stella said, getting closer to Eric and punching him in the arm.

“Are you guys done?” Anna asked, trying to hide an awkward smile. She had felt some distance between herself and Eric ever since the fight ended. This was only aggravated by the fact that she had wanted to speak to Eric ever since she got back but hadn’t gotten the chance to. Seeing Eric and Stella banter in their usual manner, she saw an opportunity to test if things were the same or not. “How did you lose your eye? Sell it or something?”

Eric snorted a bit. “How’d you know? I got this great deal with the System—an eye for a title. It’s only by referral, you want in?”

“No thanks, I feel like I have enough.”

“Enough what? Eyes or titles?” Eric asked jokingly. “What was that, though?” he added, a tinge of seriousness in his voice. “When you cut the crab, I mean. What did you use?”

Not noticing, or perhaps ignoring the seriousness in Eric’s voice, she answered like usual. “Oh! That? My dead grandpa gave me a sword, and the sword gave me a concept.”

Eric stopped, turning to look at Anna. “I have so many questions, but I’ll save those for later. Can you show me your concept window?” he asked, not sure if it was even possible.

“Do I just think about sharing?” Anna said, focusing on her concept.

Concepts

Sharpness

“Is that it?” Eric asked, trying to see if he could open up a new window or interact with it somehow.

“Pretty much, why?”

“Just wanted to check something,” Eric said. “Can we talk later?”

“Still haven’t told me about your eye, so it wasn’t really up to you.”

“Why do I feel left out?” Alex exclaimed. “Isn’t Eric supposed to be the fifth wheel?”

“I am?” Eric exclaimed with surprise.

Again, the friends started to joke around. Their journey was shortened considerably; the tiredness that should have started to present itself by now was warded off by the relaxed atmosphere and happy mood. Soon they were close enough to see the incursion.

Before them was a large dirt field full of many mounds and what appeared to be holes. In the middle of the field, directly under the pillar of light, was a stone arch on a circular stone platform. Around the platform were four large figures that appeared to be moving, but it was too far away for them to be sure.

“Now that I think about it, wasn’t there a duck pond near this road?” Marcus asked, puzzled.

“Yes, now that you mention it, yes, there was,” Stella answered, equally puzzled. “You tried to make a robot duck once, remember?”

“Is this where he almost drowned a couple months ago?” Alex asked, a wide grin on his face.

“Where’s the water then?” Eric asked, not following Alex’s taunt and taking a look at his surroundings. “There’s not even a puddle around here, or ducks.”

The five continued their advance, eventually getting close enough to see what was really going on. They hadn’t noticed earlier because the expanse of what they assumed was a dirt field was so vast, and the slope so gradual, that they didn’t realize they were descending. But now they were certain: this was the pond—if it could still be called that.

“Are those... bodies?” Anna asked, being the first to make them out clearly.

As soon as Anna finished speaking, the others started running forward, curious as to what they would find.

“Those are definitely bodies,” Eric said, looking at a pile of crab-like monsters, the same crab-like monsters they had fought earlier. “And they’re alive… barely.”

The mounds that they had seen from a distance were piles of corpses, and every single monster in those piles was still alive. The large figures they had seen near the platform were giant crabs that were toppled over, like the one they had just killed, and similar to the other monsters, they were still alive.

“They’re for eggs,” Stella said, pointing at one of the various holes. “They’re destroyed, but it’s clear they're for eggs.”

Eric walked to another of the holes. He easily concluded the same thing Stella had. Inside were broken eggshells, the pieces suggesting that they were quite big. There was a small mound that held some of the eggshells, with some blueish-green liquid remaining inside.

“Are we all thinking the same thing?” Eric asked. “That this is the gift the goat mentioned.”

“Guys! Come take a look!” Alex called out from atop the platform.

"No, then?" Eric muttered as he walked to the platform.

They had faced two types of enemies from the incursion. First, the four-legged crabs that walked upright and had face armor. Second, the giant, diamond shaped, six-legged crab that only Anna could injure.

But now, on top of the platform, was a humanoid fish. Its head and neck appeared to be one, it being fully vertical with its body. The gills on its neck were flaring slightly. Its legs were apart and arched somewhat, with a short fishtail extending from its lower back.

“It’s a fishman,” Marcus said. "Do you think it was in charge?”

“According to Inspect, it’s a quorum,” Stella said. “And it might be in charge, who knows.”

Eric examined the creature carefully. He knelt down, examining it closer. After a while, he raised his spear and brought it down on its head, around where he guessed its brain would be.

Quorum +4000 credits.

Before anyone could react, Eric raised his hand, gesturing for them to wait, and spoke. “I don’t think it was their boss; it gives less XP than the giant crabs,” he said, pointing at one. “Who knows what it was, maybe a trainer or something.”

“Like if the crabs were guard dogs?” Anna asked, continuing Eric's train of thought.

“It could also be a farmer of some kind,” Alex said, offering another possibility. “Look,” he said, pointing at a nearby hole. “The holes are too neat, and they all kind of look the same.”

“No point in speculating now,” Eric said, standing up and taking his bow out from Marcus’s bag, along with the arrows. “If we’re lucky, we’ll never have to find out.”

“That’s a flag,” Stella groaned. “Why would you do that? Now we’ll definitely fight them again.”

Eric shrugged and raised his bow in an awkward form, clearly showing he had no experience with one.

Lesser giant crab +400 credits.

Eric had tasked Mental focus to come up with more uses for itself and failed to get an answer. So, instead, he tasked it with looking for ways to get better at using weapons, in hopes that he could develop the related skill.

With the use of Mental focus, he quickly caught on as to how to use a bow. He chose his target and walked five meters away.

At first, it took him five minutes to shoot an arrow—an arrow that hit nowhere near its mark. Then it took him three minutes to shoot five arrows and hit his target somewhere on its body. Now, it only took him a minute to shoot two arrows and hit the target at least once.

Eric had gotten the hang of Mental focus and realized it really didn’t do much other than expand on what he already knew he’d done right. If he thought that his grip on the bow felt better, the skill would confirm that it did or didn't.

Its biggest advantage was probably that it removed second guessing; his skill didn’t get distracted or have doubts, so answers were a firm yes or no.

He himself knew nothing about bows, and it wasn’t something that could be inferred through calculations, at least he couldn’t, so his skill couldn’t. As he let go of his final arrow and seeing it hit his target, but not killing it, he got a system window.

You have developed the skill: Bow mastery level 1

“Finally!” Eric exclaimed, letting go of a lot of built-up tension. Ever since he got the Breaker title, he had been afraid of not being able to learn new skills. He talked and acted as if he wasn’t, but he was.

“What?!” Stella asked loudly. She and everybody else were taking care of their own mountain of enemies and training their skills as fast as they could.

“Got a skill!”

“Great! Now, hurry up! I want the best rewards!”

“Got it!”

Eric put down his bow and grabbed his spear, tasked Mental focus to do the same thing it had done before and got started.

This time, the speed with which he killed the monsters was considerably faster, but he could also tell that he wasn’t learning as much as he did when using the bow. Maybe because a spear is simpler, he thought.

He increased his speed, not only because of what Stella had said, but also because he could feel his mana vanishing and it was getting close to empty.

Not long after, all five of them were visibly exhausted as they gathered near the platform.

Eric didn’t get the Spear mastery skill, but he did feel like he made some progress. Stella seemed unsatisfied with something. Marcus had been waiting for a while, his bombs being more than enough to kill the already weakened monsters. Alex was smiling, happy with his progress. Anna, on the other hand, seemed normal. She wasn’t trying to improve, she was more trying to remember all she had learned.

“What, now?” Alex asked a bit winded.

“Touch the arch,” Eric said, controlling his breathing.

“You do it. It might give benefits to landowners,” Stella suggested.

Eric nodded and walked forward. Without much care, he touched the archway, various symbols appeared on the archway and began to shine with a blue light as he did so. Eric observed the spectacle spread to the platform, then various windows appeared before him.

All enemies defeated.

Claim Hub: Yes/No

Destroy Hub: Yes/no

He selected “Yes” on the claim window. The platform started to shake, and he took two steps back. The platform opened and a hub crystal rose from the ground. Eric touched the crystal like he had done before, more windows appearing before him.

You have activated a Hub crystal.

Would you like to claim this area: Yes/No

Eric, out of pure curiosity, selected “No.”

Would you like to condense Hub crystal: Yes/No

Having gotten a new option, he turned to his friends and explained what had occurred.

“We can’t really take over this area,” Stella said, making her answer clear.

“There’s not really much here other than cars, and we have cars in the parking lot,” Alex added, also making his answer clear.

“Your choice,” Marcus said.

“If the pond was still here, maybe. But whatever Ratsvechelle did, cleared the water from here,” Anna said.

“Ratsvalch,” Marcus corrected.

Having gotten his answer, Eric selected “Yes.”

The Hub crystal began to shake, shinning a blinding blue light, that made them all wince. The light subsided quickly, and where the big hub crystal was, now a smaller one, about the size of a finger, was floating in the air. Eric grabbed it and focused on it, the “Claim” window appearing once more.

Having an idea as to how to use it, he put it in his pocket. As he did so, the platform started to shake, more violently this time. They backed away hurriedly, seeing the chaos unfold.

The light in the sky started to fade, and the shaking of the platform intensified, creating cracks along its surface that traveled up the archway. Then, with a loud crack, the entire structure—the platform, the archway, everything—collapsed into ruins.

Quest complete!

+10000 credits.

+16000 credits

Congratulations. You are one of the first to clear an incursion in your world. You have earned the title: Siegebreaker

Siegebreaker (B): Small boost to constitution and endurance when in an incursion. All Experience gain within in incursion is moderately increased.

ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!

BREAKER DETECTED

Title effects modified.

Siegebreaker (B): Modest boost to progress while in an incursion.

Additional rewards!

+1 skill points.

+1750 credits.

+3500 credits.

----------

“And that should do it,” one of the survivors who was helping with Eric’s cabin said as they finished the repairs on the broken wall.

“It better be,” Diana said, exhaustion clear in her voice.

“Wow! You actually helped,” David said in amazement as he approached. “Still think you want something, but eh, as long as you help.”

Diana turned to face David. “I’m taking a—it’s gone.”

“What’s gone? What are you talking about?”

“The light, it’s gone. Look,” Diana said, pointing at the sky.

“They did it,” David said in a low voice, then turned to face the others. “They did it!” he yelled, raising both arms.